Unspoken by Angela Hunt

Author:Angela Hunt [Hunt, Angela]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, ebook, book
ISBN: 9781418513023
Google: vEF1NZb_CUgC
Amazon: B003R0MFH6
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2005-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

19

I never got around to teaching Sema the word contentment that day. She’d already learned die from watching Gorillas in the Mist ; the elephant footage had reinforced that sad concept. I would have liked to shelter her from any further examples of the word, but life had other plans.

Sema and I were in the office together after lunch—I was trying to record the emotions she’d displayed after watching the elephant movie; she sat pouting in Fielding’s squeaky chair because I’d refused to spin her. Claire was working at the computer, probably surfing the Web for gorilla news, while our fearless leader was off doing whatever fearless leaders do when they’re not motivating the troops.

Claire broke the silence with a startled, “Oh!” then picked up the remote and powered on the television. I looked up, annoyed by the interruption, but the feeling faded when she tuned to Animal Planet. “Just got an e-mail from the Gorilla Symposium,” she told me. “Something happened to one of the g’s at the Dallas Zoo this morning. Animal Planet ’s airing a report at one.”

I glanced at the clock—12:58, so we were just in time. I turned to Sema, who was kissing the photo of baby Rafiki. “Sweetie,” I said, “want to go get one of your toys from your room? Maybe one of your dolls would like to spin.”

Sema’s eyes narrowed as she considered my request (and probably the motivation behind it), then she slipped off the chair and knuckle-walked out of the office.

“Prevention,” I told Claire. “She got really upset this morning after watching a video about elephant poachers. If this report is bad news, I don’t want her to see it.”

We both looked up as the special came on. We saw a picture of a handsome young blackback, then an overhead shot of a zoo pathway and a blanket-covered body.

Claire groaned. “Oh, no.”

The camera cut to a khaki-clad Animal Planet reporter who explained the story. Jabari, a thirteen-year-old gorilla at the Dallas Zoo, had come from Toronto nine years earlier. At first friendly and affectionate, the young male had grown more skittish as he matured. But earlier that morning the 350-pound animal managed to slip out of a supposedly escape-proof enclosure and wander the zoo for forty-nine minutes. During that time he attacked three people, including a mother and her small child. While zoo personnel scrambled to contain him, the Dallas police arrived and shot the gorilla, killing him instantly.

I glanced toward the hallway, where Sema had not yet appeared.

“Zoo officials have no idea how Jabari got out of his pen,” the reporter said. “Four doors stand between the gorillas and the outside world. Rock climbers have tested the twelve-to sixteen-foot-high walls to be sure no animal could climb them. Electrified wires guard the top of the enclosure, and trees in the habitat have been trimmed so no branches extend over the public areas. Jabari’s means of escape is a mystery, but his motivation less so. The young male was maturing, and rivalry within his gorilla family may have caused him to flee.

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